The universe

Latest about The universe

An illustration of a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star that sweeps beams of radiation through space like a cosmic lighthouse

Destroyed observatory helped SETI unlock the secrets of 'cosmic lighthouses' powered by dead stars

By Robert Lea published

Years after the collapse of the Arecebo telescope data from the radio observatory has helped SETI scientists probe the characteristics of pulsars, cosmic lighthouses powered by dead stars.

Stars
looping purple lines

Strange "quasi-moon" of Earth will get one of these 7 names

By Mike Wall published

A panel of experts has picked seven finalists for the name of asteroid (164207) 2004 GU9, a "quasi-moon" of Earth. You can vote for your favorite through Jan. 1, 2025.

Earth
An image of the Moon's cratered surface in rainbow colors

China reveals secrets of 1st sample taken from the far side of the moon — and it contains a volcanic surprise

By Stephanie Pappas published

Active volcanoes were erupting on the far side of the moon 2.8 billion years ago, the first lunar samples returned from the far side reveal. 1

The moon
a bright yellow star swirling in the center of a massive gaseous disk orbiting around.

Hubble Telescope peeks at star with planet-forming disk that gets 3 times hotter than the sun

By Kiona N. Smith published

Scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe a star with a planet-forming disk that gets to absolutely scorching temperatures.

Stars
An animation of a nova.

Where's the Blaze Star? Why the overdue 'new star' T Coronae Borealis has yet to light up the night sky

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

Astronomers explain why the highly-anticipated "guest star" has not appeared in the night sky yet.

Stars
side by side images show a splotch of green and blue in a black canvas with a red center, and a red yellow canvas on the right, with dark granules scattered around.

World's 2nd fastest supercomputer runs largest-ever simulation of the universe

By Keith Cooper published

A new frontier has been reached in simulations of the universe, with the powerful exascale supercomputer called "Frontier" performing the most detailed simulation yet of the cosmos.

The Universe
black and white images of terrain on earth, taken from space. Satellite images from 1974 of Iraq, later found as the location of the al-Qadisiyyah battle site

Declassified spy satellite images reveal 1,400-year-old battle site in Iraq that set off the Muslim conquest

By Sierra Bouchér published

Historical texts that mentioned details about the battle site helped researchers match the images to the lost town of al-Qadisiyyah.

Earth
A large glowing orange sphere next to a much smaller blue orb

Mysterious, record-breaking energy burst connected to dead star and red dwarf

By Robert Lea published

Astronomers have tracked a mysterious, record-breaking blast of energy to a binary star system containing a red dwarf star and a white dwarf — solving a two-decade-long puzzle.

The Universe
A light blue sphere in a clearing at the heart of an orange cloud of gas

Dead stars within supernova explosions could solve the dark matter mystery in 10 seconds

By Robert Lea published

If astronomers could catch bursts of gamma rays from supernova explosions that create neutron stars near the Milky Way, the mystery of dark matter could be wrapped up in 10 seconds.

Stars
True colour satellite image of the Earth showing Greenland, Europe and Northern Africa, with cloud coverage.

This spot will be key to the inevitable collapse of a key Atlantic current

By Sascha Pare published

New modeling research reveals that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is particularly vulnerable to shifts in the Irminger sea off Greenland from increasing Arctic meltwater.

Earth
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